Genome Canada gets a new general Former Genome BC chief scientific officer to head Genome Canada

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By Shawn Lawrence

It’s hard to believe that ten years have passed since the development of genomics as a significant science led the government of Canada to set up Genome Canada. In its existence, the organization has proven quite successful in developing and implementing a national strategy that supports large-scale genomics and proteomics research projects in this country. Now, as the organization prepares for the next chapter of its existence, it will do so with a new figure
running the show.

On October 18, following an intensive international executive search, Genome Canada named Dr. Pierre Meulien as the permanent successor to Genome Canada’s founding president and CEO, Martin Godbout.

Dr. Meulien is no stranger to the industry and to its inner workings. Having served as chief science officer of Genome BC since 2007, he is already a champion of genomics research in Canada. He also has a strong commitment and passion for advancing the nation’s science and technology agenda and his skill as an accomplished facilitator who has managed expert research teams with a number of organizations, including Aventis Pasteur in Toronto (Senior Vice President of R&D), and in Lyon, France (Director of Research) are among his key strengths.

“Genome Canada’s board of directors was unanimous in its selection” said Dr. C Thomas Caskey. “Dr. Meulien brings a wealth of experience in the areas of genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics within the larger realm of biotechnology and life sciences. His strong commitment and passion for advancing the nation’s science and technology agenda will serve us well.”

It’s an opportunity that Dr. Meulien feels well suited for and eager to tackle.

“I’m familiar with the genomics field in Canada, the way Genome Canada and the Centres are set up, and the projects that are already underway. The new Genome Canada position gives me an opportunity to really shape a national genomic strategy for Canada, to keep Canada at the forefront,” he said.

While leaving his role at Genome BC does bring some mixed feelings, the opportunity to be part of Canada’s national organization for genomics and to impact the decisions being made on a national lever are reasons he couldn’t refuse the position.

“No matter how you cut it, Genome Canada has done an amazing job over the first ten years of its existence in leveraging federal funding and building huge capacity in genomics across the country. The organization has really helped put Canada on the map as a place to do genomics research and development. The excellence of the things that Canada has done in this ever changing field, the huge international recognition across all the sectors, but there is still great potential for applications in this area to expand and inall the sectors of the life sciences.”

Dr. Meulien states that he will review how Genome Canada spends its research dollars and whether any changes should be made to its current spending. Genome funding is currently targeted for a wide variety of areas deemed important to Canada’s future economic growth including agriculture, forestry, environment research, fisheries and human health.

“Genomes are genomes, whether you’re looking at human beings, bugs in mining sites, crops, trees, fish or whatever. That’s what drives me, the potential to work with the provincial centres, really engaging with what we would call end-users, whether they’re in industry or with people who are managing forests and fisheries or looking at the agricultural crops that we’re planting in our huge country. Genomics has a role to play in so many areas.”

Of these areas, genomics has become a buzz word of late in human health, specifically for its potential to have significant impact in area of personalized medicine.

“In Genome BC, we launched a personalized medicine program and other province’s like Quebec and Ontario the country have already recognized the immediate need for advancements in this field. So my plan for Genome Canada includes supporting such initiatives.”

The key to making such initiatives work though, he explains, is convincing the decision makers, specifically the end users of the technology of the benefits of incorporating genomic technologies.

“Convincing them can be challenging because when you talk to health authorities or Ministries of health who are struggling with multi-billion dollar budgets trying to sustain cost and so on, often they can’t see the possibilities of using these technologies. They see only the cost as an add-on to their existing budgets. We (Genome Canada) along with the genome centres need to be better advocates in demonstrating that these technologies can be used in the healthcare system in an economically sustainable model, and in some instances as a means to reduce cost.”

Dr. Meulien adds that his plans for the organization will also require changes in the way Genome Canada develops its programs and in choosing which projects to fund.

“I’d like to involve multi-disciplinary teams across the health sector and bring the health economists and so on to the table, moreover the engagement of end-user communities across all sectors to ensure projects that we choose to support will demonstrate a value add yet fulfill the sustainability aspect.”

In terms of funding, Meulien would not only like to build on the investments of $915 million to date from the Government of Canada, but also to work with other national organizations such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation, CIHR, NSERC and others. At the same time, he’d also like to bring Genome Canada closer to its provincial partners.

“We need to be working together to facilitate projects and to improve the infrastructure to share cost and create an environment conducive to maintaining excellence in the field. Only by building these partnerships can Canada truly take full advantage of this huge technology revolution that is happening inside the life sciences.”

Creating international collaborations can be just as important as creating national ones adds Dr. Meulien. While at Genome BC, Dr Meulien was responsible for developing an international strategy that resulted in partnerships with the European Union, Chile, Australia, and Norway. He also spearheaded an international consortium to sequence the Atlantic salmon genome, which will lead to better management of wild fish stocks and breeding selection for commercially important traits.

“So you can say I have a lot of experience with international funders and partners. Obviously, Canada is still a relatively small country in terms of population, and in order to try and be among the best in this growing field, Genome Canada needs to partner with others and go forward with a collaborative type of thinking. We can’t just think domestically, we also have to think internationally.”

Moreover, Dr. Meulien says he would like to see the percentage of Genome Canada funds from industry, which currently sits just under ten per cent, doubled over the next few years. Likewise, giving industry more of a say in forging a strategic plan for Genome Canada over the next 10 years is also a priority.

“The goal is to be more proactive in bringing stakeholder groups together, getting industry across all sectors not only to increase their support of Genome Canada projects but also to inform us of their needs so we can better decide what’s best on a project-by-project basis going forward,” Meulien said. “Our key challenge is to translate all of this fantastic stuff we’ve been doing over the last ten years into real world applications. As such, large scale research with translational objectives will be a major part of our mandate. In order to this correctly, this goes back to engaging with industry and other end users who are going to uses the technologies.”

For this, he will rely on his industry background. Prior to Genome BC, Dr Meulien was the founding CEO of the Dublin Molecular Medicine Centre (now Molecular Medicine Ireland), and held leadership roles with a number of other companies around the world.

“I have a lot of experience in that area, almost 20 years in both pharma and biotechnology sector. I’d like to see industry get more involved because by working with end-users, we improve the utility and application of genomics technologies and enhance industry uptake across all economic sectors important to Canada.”

Genome Canada’s track record of funding large-scale research will remain in tact under Meulien’s watch. In fact, not only will large-scale research continue, it will happen more often says Dr. Meulien.

Last but not least, Meulien recognizes the importance of getting the message out there to the public, that genomics has great potential.

“Genome Canada has been very strong in societal aspects of genomics and in order to get these technologies into society and in an acceptable form. We need to continue this trend, engaging our major communities and the public in large so that they see the promise of genomics for all Canadians.”